Seeing the struggles of children who couldn’t access quality education due to overcrowded public schools and unaffordable private options, Ogechi Benyeogor took action. With a Master’s degree in education and four years of teaching experience, Ogechi decided to make a difference. She established a low-cost nursery and primary school in her rural community in Asaba, Delta State.

Initially hesitant to start her own venture, Ogechi’s breakthrough came when she joined the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF). Through their twelve-week training and mentorship program, she gained a clearer understanding of business and felt empowered to launch Fidema’s Children Academy.

Today, Fidema’s Children Academy serves over 200 pupils and employs 15 staff members, generating $7,000 annually. This achievement supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of providing accessible and affordable education for all.

Beyond education, Fidema’s Children Academy has also created job opportunities for local residents, offering them a chance to contribute to the community and use their skills to educate the next generation.

Reflecting on her journey, Ogechi shares;

“The foundation helped me discover my potential. After joining the 2016 TEF class, my path to entrepreneurship began. The seed capital allowed me to rent space and buy equipment. Since then, with support from family and business savings, I’ve acquired land and built a suitable school. Despite fierce competition, the mentorship and business education from TEF have been crucial to our success.”

Sector: Education/Training

Full Name: Ogechi Benyeogor

Business Name: Fidema’s Children Academy

Country: Nigeria

Year of funding: 2016

Impact area: Available and affordable education services.

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After spending a lot of time on the streets searching for a job, Ogola Kange decided to become an entrepreneur, she began to make and deliver healthy food to customers within her location. See some months of business success, she went to register his business Smiley’z Mobile Kitchen in 2014.  

Seed Grant in 2015 from the TEF Program

Ogola’s company attempts to reduce post-harvest losses in various agricultural produce, especially tomatoes. She helps farmers with processing tomatoes organically, giving it a longer shelf life, while achieving some of the sustainable development goals. 

“The TEF program and the seed grant in 2015 was the real basis of my Entrepreneurship resilience and success today. That first application, the 12 weeks learning, and the boot camp are the things that I have built upon over the years, modifying and improving the business plan till what it is today.”  

Smiley’z impact focus has two-dimension, poverty reduction and environmental conservation.  The average woman living in rural Nigeria earns $0.3 a day, with limited skills or opportunities to increase their livelihood. Smiley’z addresses this in two ways: First by working with 35 smallholder farmers to purchase their excess tomatoes. Providing market access to these women, Smiley’z increases their sales by 25% on average per annum. Secondly, she trains women on how to develop cottage industry agricultural products.  

She has provided entrepreneurship training to over 200 women. Fifty of them are now successfully starting their own businesses to support themselves and their employees. Smiley’z Tomato products are part of Solar Impulse Foundations’ 1,000 Solutions and efficient ways of production. The small farmers it works with are trained in ecological farming best practices, including how to reduce CO2 emissions, energy and water usage, and reduce tomato production waste. While in its own production process it uses glass jars to enable recycling of its products, renewable energy and post-harvest waste reduction. 

Since TEF, Smiley’z has gotten many more certifications, trainings, awards, grants and VC investment. A Mandela Washington Fellow, USAID and USADF beneficiary, GOZ NICOP SENDIN beneficiary to name a few. 

About The Tony Elumelu Foundation

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

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Olanrewaju Samuel Faleye took the initiative to contribute to solving the problem of the spice and confectionaries segment of agricultural products. 

“I made the decision to become an entrepreneur to develop a solution that will reduce post-harvest loss, increase income of small holder farmers, increase access to quality foods at affordable prices and create employment.”   

He started his production of sachet powdered pepper, earning an average of $100 monthly with only himself as the employee. From the support he got through the TEF program with seed capital, he currently has 30 direct staff and over 80 distributors for his product across several zones in Nigeria. He sells an average of 240,000 sachets of his product monthly with an average earning of $6000. He has improved the livelihood of more than 20 small-scale pepper farmers, providing empowerment interventions for women in his society.  

“The Seed Capital, training and Mentoring has made all the difference in my life. I have also leveraged on TEF Platform for networking and to grow my business.” 

Olarenwaju has participated in the 7th International Trade Fair for Agriculture in 2022, Participated in the Nourishing for Africa Entrepreneurship Program in 2021, Participated in Global Entrepreneurship Training supported by UNESCO in 2019, and also Participated in the International Breweries PLC kickstart Foundation Program in 2018. 

In Summary

Through innovation, determination, and strategic support from various entrepreneurship initiatives, Olanrewaju Samuel Faleye has not only built a successful business but has also made significant strides in combating post-harvest losses and empowering local farmers. His story underscores the transformative impact of targeted interventions in addressing key challenges within Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

By focusing on solutions like sachet powdered pepper and leveraging entrepreneurial programs, Olanrewaju exemplifies how individuals can drive positive change in their communities while building sustainable businesses.

This African success story highlights the importance of addressing post-harvest loss issues and showcases a tangible example of entrepreneurial success in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

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The appointment is in relation to the work of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, a major stakeholder in the development of the MSMEs sub-sector in Nigeria, and across Africa. 

In the past four years, SMEDAN has worked assiduously with its development partner MAFITA, a UKaid funded intervention in Nigeria to develop the National Framework for the certification and accreditation of Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs), and will provide professional support to MSMEs in Nigeria. This accreditation will help set, structure and systemise standardised curriculum for the deployment of relevant business development services for all functional areas of any small business. It will see prospective participants going through a training, assessment, and portfolio development for those who have not yet had any transactional history of working with small businesses. 

To achieve this, SMEDAN has constituted the National Steering Committee (NSC) to ensure that the National BDSPs Framework takes off seamlessly. 

According to the statement, the members of the NSC are drawn from public sector institutions, credible private sector institutions, and highly experienced and knowledgeable individuals. 

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Here are some notable quotes from the event:

We need to do whatever it takes to empower our youths because they are the future of the continent – Wambui Gichuri, African Development Bank (AfDB)

Entrepreneurship is an essential part of Africa’s employment challenge and it is where we have to put our focus as a multilateral development bank – Wambui Gichuri, African Development Bank (AfDB)

It is important that governments start looking at entrepreneurship as a fundamental core topic that needs to be integrated into the educational system – Shoroke H. Zedan, World Youth Skills

We need to do whatever it takes to empower our youth because they are the future of the continent – Wambui Gichuri, African Development Bank (AfDB)

We need to acknowledge the fact that while there are a lot of issues in different African countries. We have to be able and willing to share knowledge and see how entrepreneurs can start connecting with others across the continent – – Shoroke H. Zedan, World Youth Skills

We need to rethink how incubators can function in a manner whereby the projects of young entrepreneurs will start complementing each other rather than each one going in a separate direction – Shoroke H. Zedan, World Youth Skills

I am a very proud Tony Elumelu Foundation beneficiary – Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola – Founder, Wecyclers and Fellow, Tony Elumelu Foundation

We are a unique continent and so we cannot take the kind of solutions that are working in Europe and America. We have to look at what issues we are facing and try to help out our young people – Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola – Founder, Wecyclers and Fellow, Tony Elumelu Foundation

Let us skill our youth, and provide them with the necessary support to improve their business concepts so that they can start to grow and scale their businesses in order to create jobs not just for themselves but for others.        Martha T.M. Phiri, PhD, African Development Bank (AfDB)

COVID-19 has brought to light the enormous vulnerabilities that we have if we don’t create jobs for the youth – Martha T.M. Phiri, PhD, African Development Bank (AfDB)

Let us support government policy measures that aim to strengthen and increase social protection but at the same time enhance governance systems – Martha T.M. Phiri, PhD, African Development Bank (AfDB)

The pandemic has in some ways leveled the playing field – Alexandra Robinson, AISEC

Young people are the ones that are really systematically deeply disproportionately impacted by this pandemic – Alexandra Robinson, AIESEC

Sharing ownership with policymaking and intervention creation and even in delivery interventions can give young people the opportunity to train others – Alexandra Robinson, AIESEC

I advocate for any policy that involves young people as co-owners of the policymaking process. I really believe that when young people are given co-ownership of the table, not just invited to someone else’s, they are able to have those meaningful conversations. Alexandra Robinson, AIESEC

The SMEs are the major contributors to African economies – Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, Tony Elumelu Foundation

SMEs have a really big job to play in Africa – Martha T.M. Phiri, African Development Bank (AfDB)

I believe we should give more young people a safe place to fail and access to really learn, with real capital, real stakes, real opportunities through success but also through making mistakes to make them the active humble leaders we need in the world – Alexandra Robinson, AIESEC

Transparency is integral to good governance – Leroy Mwasaru – Founder, Greenpact Kenya and Tony Elumelu Foundation Alumnus

Governments must provide policies that enable businesses to thrive. If African countries come together, we will be able to grow resilient sustainable businesses that empower people while protecting the environment – Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola – Founder, Wecyclers and Fellow, Tony Elumelu Foundation

It is as a result of sharing what we have been doing that we hope there are less failures and more successes –     Leroy Mwasaru – Founder, Greenpact Kenya and Tony Elumelu Foundation Alumnus

We must not underestimate the level of disruption and uncertainty that young people all over the world have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa – Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, Tony Elumelu Foundation

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